What?
by Redheadedbookworm77
Summary: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny are in London when Hermione finds the Harry Potter series. What will happen next? Duh-duh-duh!
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Harry Potter, it's all J.K. Rowling's.**

**This is just a fun little story, nothing more, nothing less.**

**Read, review, and hopefully, enjoy!**

Chapter 1

"Harrryyy, hurry uppp! Hermione's going to be extremely mad if we are late!" Ginny called up the stairs of their house to her husband of nineteen years.

"Coming dear," he said when he reached the top of the stairs. He walked down the first few stairs as slowly as he could until Ginny yelled at him to hurry up and he ran down the last few stairs until he was on the floor. He then looked at her innocently.

"I'm ready to go when you are sweetie," he said. Ginny just rolled her eyes and grabbed her coat from the hooks by the wall. Harry did the same and the two walked out of the front door onto the pathway leading to a small, secluded road in Godric's Hollow. It was snowing softly and as they walked towards the road, Harry pulled Ginny in closer to keep her from getting too cold. When they reached the street, Harry stopped to look back at their home. Harry was filled with a sudden warmth as memories of his family stirred up inside him, even though his children were at Hogwarts for the holidays. It was good to have a family here with him after all that's happened.

"Are you ready to apparate?" Ginny asked, noticing his thoughtful expression.

"Yes, let's go or Hermione might actually jinx me," Harry said. Ginny laughed, knowing that Hermione probably would.

They held on to each other and Harry apparated Ginny and himself into an apparition point just outside London. It had been over fifteen years since they had ventured out into the muggle world, minus the times that they brought their children to King's Cross. The snow was falling more heavily in London and he could just make out the figure of a certain bushy-haired witch storming towards them and her tall, lanky husband trailing behind.

"Mister Harry Potter! Where in Merlin's beard have you been?" Hermione yelled. Ron stayed a safe distance behind her, obviously used to this type of encounter. "We are precisely twenty minutes away from missing the show!" Hermione was treating the four of them to a show in West End for the Christmas holidays before they traveled to the Burrow for the annual Christmas Eve feast. She had been anxious to return to the muggle world and see what had changed.

"Sorry, Hermione. Ginny was just spending so much time getting ready that I could barely drag her out of our house," Harry said with an apologetic look towards Hermione. Ginny elbowed him, but Hermione lost focus in their exchange. She was just worried about missing the show.

"Well, never mind that. We should go now or else we will miss the show," Hermione said, dragging everybody towards the city.

In London, even with their best efforts to get to the show on time, everything went wrong. The subway train somehow arrived more than ten minutes late and by the time they got off the subway, the show was only a few minutes away from starting. Hermione, now even more impatient and anxious, dragged everybody else through the heavy snow, but they only made it a few blocks before Hermione saw that it was hopeless. They had ten more blocks to go and it was snowing so heavily that they couldn't move very fast. She turned to her exhausted friends and sighed.

"I'm sorry guys. We're not going to make it in time…the show has already started and we have to walk so far. I should've planned for this weather and I wish I could use magic but there's too many muggles around," she said, her shoulders slumped in defeat.

Harry, noticing Hermione's disappointment, looked around to see if he could spot anything that might pass the time and cheer Hermione up. He knew how desperately she wanted everything to work out. Suddenly, he noticed a large bookstore with a small café across the street. _If a whole store of books doesn't cheer Hermione up, then nothing will,_ he thought.

"Hey, Hermione? Why don't we go in that bookshop over there? It looks cozy enough and they have a café," Harry said. Hermione nodded, trying not to cry over her disappointment of missing the show.

Inside the store, everybody except for Hermione sat at a small square table in the café drying off and drinking tea. Hermione wandered off into the books with a dazed look on her face. Harry smiled to himself when he realized that he was right in bringing her to the bookstore. At the table, Ron and Harry obviously talked about Quidditch while Ginny stared off into space, only half listening to the conversation going on next to her. Suddenly, Hermione came running out of the endless rows of books, her hair wild, and her face red and sweaty. She was gasping a thin book.

"Harry…Ron…Ginny…you…have…to…see…this," Hermione said, gasping between every word.

"Blimey Hemione, did you run a mile?" Ron said.

"Oh, shut…up and…read it," Hermione said, catching her breath.

Harry took the book from her and turned it over to the cover. On the front was a picture of a red stone but it didn't hit Harry until he read the cover. When he did he gasped and handed it to Ginny who in turn looked up at Harry in disbelief. Ron reached across the table and snatched the book from Ginny's hands. As his eyes brushed the cover, his eyes widened even more. Then, he turned it over and read the synopsis on the back, his hands tightening until he reached the last line. He looked up the group of four saw the pale faces of their companions.

"Wha-wha-wh-wha?" Ron said, unable to form coherent words.

The book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.


	2. Chapter 2

**So this is the second chapter! It's mostly just fluff and filler and stuff like that but I hope you guys like it even if it may not have the best writing.**

**Anyways, read and review! Next chapter will Christmas Eve Feast and all that jazz.**

Chapter 2

The four friends looked at each other for a very long time before Harry grabbed the book and stood up. His chair toppled to the ground behind him. Not even turning around to pick it up, Harry rushed into the bookshelves. He ran past a few startled people before he realized that he didn't even know where the books were. Frustrated, he turned around and almost ran into the other three. Hermione, reading his look of frustration, grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the back of the bookstore, towards the children's section. However, before they could enter the section, she stopped them in front of a table stacked with books and boxes of jellybeans.

"Are…are those really Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans?" Ron asked. He picked up a box to inspect it. A brunette teenage girl walked out from behind the teen shelves and stared at him. _We must really by a sight_, Ron thought. _Four grown adults in their muggle dress clothes near the children's section._

"Oh Ronald, do you really think that's possible?" Hermione said. "Do you really think that muggles got a hold of a wizarding sweet. Honestly, do you ever use your head?"

"Well, it says that they are on the front. How else would they know about them?"

"I don't know but they can't have wizarding sweets, can they?"

"If you two would stop bickering for a second you'd realize that every single one of our Hogwarts years plus the year we looked for the Hallows seems to be recorded in these books," Harry said, picking up the seventh book and turning it to the back to skim the synopsis. "And they all say my name in the title."

"Oh like you're so special. Am I anywhere in there?" Ron said, peering over Harry's shoulder at the book.

"Ronald do you only care about yourself?" Hermione scoffed.

"Guys, I really think we should at least read through some of these to see if they are actually true. Just because they mention Harry and maybe Ron doesn't mean that they are 100% accurate so before we make any snap judgments about these books, we should make sure they're true," Ginny said, breaking up the argument between Ron and Hermione before it even began. Harry, Ron, and Hermione agreed and they, along with Ginny, grabbed each of the seven books. Ron almost took the jellybeans to eat before Hermione scolded him and told him that he couldn't eat them without paying.

The four found a small gathering of leather couches and chairs in the middle of the store and sat down on them, Harry and Ginny on one couch and Ron and Hermione on the other. Harry picked up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hermione settled with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ron chose Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Ginny plucked Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets from the pile. They spent the next two hours reading their selected books and commenting on parts that they came across.

"Oh my gosh Ron, I remember setting all those birds on you," Hermione said, clearly on the verge of giggles.

"Yeah it was a real pleasant experience. Best of my life actually. I can't believe that's in there. Oi, Harry. I'm sorry for being such an ass back with the Goblet of Fire. It's so bloody weird to see my words in here," Ron said.

"Yeah, but it sure does bring back memories," Ginny said, looking up from her book to join the conversation. Harry noticed a hint of sadness in her voice, slid over to her side of the couch and pulled her in close.

"What's wrong hun?" he whispered.

"Oh it's nothing…honestly," she clarified, looking up at Harry's concerned face. "It's just that this book is all about us and the Chamber and Voldemort and it just…it just brings back some bad memories."

"Are you sure you still want to read it then? Why don't you choose another one," Harry said, leaning over to pick up another book.

"No, it's OK. Besides, I'm at the part where you come and save me," Ginny said, smiling up at her husband. Harry laughed, kissed her lightly, and returned to his book. Ron and Hermione, who had been watching this exchange carefully also returned to their books and Ginny followed, after gazing into the bookshelves for a few seconds.

About twenty minutes later, Hermione naturally finished her first book and moved on to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While switching books, she noticed that Harry's fingers were gripping his book so tightly that his knuckles were white. Deciding that she would ask later, she opened up the book and began to read.

"Bloody hell. I didn't know this was how Cedric died. I mean, I knew but I didn't KNOW," Ron said about ten minutes after Hermione switched books. His face was as white as Harry's knuckles had been minutes ago.

"Yeah, I thought that I would never forget Dobby's death, but here it is in black and white and I can't believe how many details just slipped from me," Harry said. He put his head in his hands and bent over. Now Hermione knew why he gripped the book so tightly. This time it was Ginny's turn to comfort Harry and she did so, but unlike last time, they didn't say anything.

Once again, the group returned to reading the books for another twenty minutes. Both Ginny and Harry chose other books, but Ron reread the Goblet of Fire. At the end of the two hours, Ron stood up and stretched.

"Blimey, that was just…weird," he said, returning to his seat.

"Yeah, I know mate," Harry said.

"Well, I think we should buy these books. It might be good for us to relive our school days after all these years and honestly, I want to find out how much this J.K. Rowling knows," Hermione said.

"How exactly does she know so much about us? Even I have never heard this stuff about Harry," Ginny said.

"There must be some powerful magic behind all this. How could somebody know nearly everything about our lives since we started Hogwarts?" Hermione asked even though she knew none of them could answer their unspoken question.

"Let's go talk to my mum and dad during the Christmas Eve Feast. They might know more about this than we do, but I agree with Hermione, we should still buy the books," Ginny said while gathering the books into a stack. She gave half to Harry and half to Ron and the four of them walked to the front of the store, their minds spinning with theories and questions. About thirty feet from the cashier, a sudden thought struck Ron.

"Oi, if they saw and knew everything about us, do you reckon they saw us showering?" Ron asked.

"Oh please Ron. Is that all you're worried about. We discover somebody has been stalking our lives and our every move for over seven years and all you can think about is if they've seen you naked. Honestly," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Well it's a valid point," Ron retorted.

They continued to bicker about this topic until they reached the cashier. Then, Harry piled his books on the counter and Ron placed his on top.

"Uh…Harry, do you have muggle money?" Ron whispered behind the stack of books. He had a panicked look on his face.

"Yeah, I got some here. Lemme just get it out of my wallet," said Harry. He reached down into his pants leg and pulled out his wallet and then paid the cashier, who had seen this exchange. The cashier took Harry's money somewhat suspiciously, but Harry didn't notice. After staring at Harry for a few seconds, the cashier put the money in the register and gave Harry change. For some reason, his eyes kept drifting towards Harry's forehead where the hint of a scar was showing under the messy jet-black hair. Then he looked towards the gangly redhead with splashes of freckles and blue eyes and a girl behind him with nearly the same features. Finally, his eyes drifted to the bushy haired, brown-eyed girl with her hands on her hips, obviously a bossy person. For some reason, they all seemed so familiar but it didn't occur to the cashier until he started putting the books in a bag.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry Potter.

Harry Potter.

Harry POTTER.

_Harry Potter is real. And he's here in this bookshop, _the man concluded. He started reviewing all the physical characteristics of the people he knew from the books and they all matched up. Green eyes. Slender. Jet-black hair. Scar. Red hair. Freckles. Gangly. Blue eyes. Bushy brown hair. Brown eyes. Bossy. Harry with Ginny. Ron with Hermione. The names came to him from the knowledge that he absorbed as a kid and again as a teenager. It had been so long since he opened up the books but he still remembered. The cashier turned around to make sure that the video camera behind him was on and recording this moment. Since it was, he turned back around and finished placing the books in the bag, this time his hands were shaking in excitement. He had just bagged Harry Potter's bags.

"Uh, here's your receipt Mister uh…" the cashier said, wanting to verify if his theory was correct.

"Potter. Thank-you very much. Come on Ron," Harry said, grabbing Ron's arm and leading them to the girls. Harry noticed the weird looks the cashier was giving him as he walked away but he didn't know what they meant yet.

After watching the four adults leaving the bookstore, the cashier turned around again to check the camera. _Yes, it's still on,_ he thought. _I have the most important video in the history of world._

Later that night, the cashier was able to get his hands on the video and the day after Christmas, he sent of a copy of the five-minute segment containing the four adults along with a report of his theories to all of the newspapers and news stations within the nearest ten miles. Not everybody believed him but those that needed a good story in such boring times printed screenshots of the video with the headlines similar to HARRY POTTER: THE BOY WHO LIVED ACTUALLY DOES.

The muggle world, which had lived in ignorance about witches and wizards for hundreds of years, was about to discover the best kept secret on the face of the Earth.

**So the whole cashier thing was kinda abrupt, but don't worry, I'll get back to him and more of his story later when things become more stressful and stuff. I don't know exactly everything that's going to happen, but if you have suggestions, please, I'm an open book.**

**Thanks for reading!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay so here is Chapter 3! **

**Anyways, I've realized that some of my times and ages don't match up so just bear with me there. I'll try to sort it out as best I can but even though I'm dedicated to this story, I don't have the patience to line up dates and stuff. Besides, time is but a big ball of timey wimey...stuff. :D**

**Also, I've only been to London once so I have no idea how it's set up. I also don't know about British customs as well as I do American so there might be some things here that don't happen in Britain as they do in America. And I'm not sure what the British covers of the book look like, I'm just going on what I found online.**

**Okay so enough of that...just read and review and hopefully, enjoy!**

Chapter 3

After seeing and buying the Harry Potter series at the bookstore, Hermione placed them in her handbag (altered with the Undetectable Extension Charm) and the quartet trudged their way back to the apparition point and apparated to the Burrow. There, they were met with more snow and the lively chatter of all their friends muffled only slightly by the Burrow's rickety wooden walls. The Burrow's windows were flooded with a soft yellow glow and they all had small candles flickering on the windowsills. For a second, the four forgot about the pressing worry of the books they discovered and were just excited to finally celebrate Christmas.

Harry was the first inside the Burrow and when he entered, a cheer erupted from the crowd gathered in the living room. When the rest of his friends entered, the same thing happened and soon, the four of them were flooded with people wanting to hug and kiss them.

"Oo et haz been zo long 'Arry," Fleur said, kissing his cheek lightly before moving on to Ron. Much to the displeasure of their wives, the both blushed and ducked their heads.

"Eh, Harry what's been happening?" George asked. He pulled Harry into a hug and clapped him on the back. Harry was glad to see that George was looking happy, even after all these years, George tended to sink into depression over Fred's death.

The next person to greet him was Molly Weasley. He could barely say anything under the weight of her bone-crushing hug. He was surprised at how much strength the old woman had.

After greeting about twenty people, Harry turned to face the scene in front of him. There was a large Christmas tree in the corner with several presents already underneath. Bill and Fleur were sitting, snuggling on the couch while Charlie and Arthur Weasley stood talking near the Christmas tree. Hanging from the fireplace were so many different colored stockings that none of them had enough space to hang flat so they all bunched up on top of each other. In front of the fireplace, Angelina Johnson, George's wife, played with Fleur's two-year-old child. For some reason, Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic, was present and he was laughing at a joke that Percy apparently told.

For the next few hours, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione sat and chatted with everybody who was invited, soaking in the infectious warmth and good cheer that seemed to circulate throughout the kitchen and the living room. They learned that Angelina and George were expecting another child in the late spring/early summer season. They learned that Charlie had yet another large burn, this time from a volatile Chinese Fireball that escaped from the South Chinese Dragon Reservation. Andromeda Tonks had found a new boyfriend, Thomas Hollwood, even though she still missed Ted a lot. Between talking to people, Harry found himself somewhat tipsy on eggnog. Finally, Harry found himself talking to Arthur Weasley and he found this the perfect time to bring up the books because of Arthur's fondness of muggles.

"Er, Mr. Weasley…"

"Arthur, Harry. I think we've known each other long enough for you to use my first name," Mr. Weasley said.

"Yeah, sorry. Old habits die hard I guess. Anyways, could I ask you something?"

"You already did, m'boy," Arthur said, winking, "but if you have another question, ask away."

"Have you heard of anything in the muggle world with, you know, wizards and stuff. More of like a book, kinda describing them, specifically me," Harry said, trying to get the proper words out since his mind was a bit fuzzy.

"Harry, what are you talking about?" Arthur asked. He looked very confused about the topic.

"Well, you see, Hermione found these books that are all about my life in Hogwarts and defeating Voldemort in a muggle bookshop and I don't know how they got there. They describe all sorts of things about my life, some things I've never even told anyone but they're still all there in the books," Harry said.

"Do have one of these books around?" Arthur asked.

"Well, Hermione's got all of them that we saw. They're her purse," Harry said, pointing at Hermione who was across the room chatting with Percy.

'Hm. I would like to see some of these later. But in the meantime, let's just enjoy the festivities!" Arthur exclaimed, slapping Harry on the back and nearly spilling his eggnog, "Besides, I'm getting old. I would rather like to spend my holidays feasting than worrying."

After Arthur walked away from Harry to go see his wife, Harry decided that he would also try to forget about the books. Still, he couldn't help but think that the person or thing that stalked him before was still stalking him now. While trying to push these thoughts out of the way, Ginny walked up to him and pecked him on the cheek.

"We'll worry about the books later. Right now, I just want to enjoy the party," she said.

"Can you really read my mind that easily?"

Ginny laughed, "Well, it's not as if you're that hard to read. I mean, you say half of your thoughts in your sleep."

Harry chuckled and kissed Ginny back on the cheek before walking off to catch up with more people. The hours of the night melted together into one blur and only when Fleur carried her daughter upstairs did Harry realized how late it was. At midnight, everybody gathered around the Christmas tree and wished everybody else a Merry Christmas. Since most people were too drunk to stay up any longer or leave safely, they all filed upstairs into the pre-prepared rooms that the Weasley's set up even though nobody said they would stay the night.

The next morning, nobody woke up until ten. The bathrooms were crowded with witches and wizards casting anti-hangover spells and showering, but once the traffic had cleared out from upstairs, they all gathered back in the living room. The snow was still falling and it reflected the sunlight clearly into the living room so that no artificial light was needed. The adults went to work opening up presents that had magically appeared underneath the Christmas tree. In the wizarding world, adults were treated as children on Christmas and were given numerous presents too. Harry received another emerald sweater from Mrs. Weasley (he must have at least twenty-five), various candy from Hermione, a copy of a book on how to play wizard's chess from Ron (he still played quite badly), a new tie from Ginny (she always complained that he didn't have enough), a small box of joke items which the tag said was from Fred and George, another miniature dragon from Charlie, an Egyptian amulet from Bill (he still liked to visit Egypt in his spare time), a kiss from Fleur (this present wasn't packaged), and a book on the weird muggle habits from Arthur Weasley. The book from Arthur reminded him of the Harry Potter books still sitting in Hermione's bag, but he vowed not to mention them until Christmas was over.

The rest of the day was spent eating, playing games of wizard's chess, and having snowball fights. Harry beat Ron in the snowball fight, but Ron still kicked Harry's butt in wizard's chess. The Weasley's kept a constant flow of dishes coming in from the kitchen so nobody was hungry the whole day. At the end of the day, there was another feast with ham, mashed potatoes, and vegetables being only a few of the numerous dishes lay out on the table. Most people had to fill their dishes and walk into the living room because the kitchen table didn't fit everyone. Harry sat with Ginny, Ron, Hermione, George, and Percy on the couches in front of the fireplace and they laughed and chatted along with everybody else. Finally, at the end of the day, the large amount of witches and wizards that had taken up residence in the Burrow for the past two days began to trickle out the door and the fireplace.

After everybody but the Weasley's and Harry and Hermione had left the Burrow, Ginny led Harry back upstairs to her old room. Only when they lay in their PJ's in bed did Harry's thoughts drift to the books. He was going to ponder their existence more and come up with theories as to how the author knew so much until his heavy eyes slowly drifted shut and he fell into a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay so I haven't said this in a few chapters but I don't own Harry Potter or any characters or places or anything involved with it. It's all J.K. Rowling's stuff.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

Chapter 4

The next morning, Ginny was shaken awake by Harry.

"Wha-whatdsfgoingdsdson," she mumbled. _It doesn't even look like it's ten yet,_ she thought.

"Get up. Kingsley is here and he wants to talk to us," Harry said while throwing on a T-shirt and some jeans.

Ten minutes later, Ginny found herself sitting at the kitchen table with Harry, Hermione, Ron, her father and mother, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Percy, and two men from the Ministry of Magic that she didn't recognize.

"Now, I know that all of you are at least familiar with the popular muggle series concerning Harry," Kingsley started, "the trouble here lies not in how J.K. Rowling was able to obtain the information, but how many people will believe her.

"Now I know from many of your faces that you think this will be an easy task. After all, how many modern muggles really believe in magic? However, a certain development has put the relationship between magical peoples and muggles at a certain breaking point…"

Ginny, impatient as ever, interrupted Kingsley at this point. "Like what breaking point? We still have questions about this book and how it came to be. I think we should at least start from the beginning and work our way through the development of the series. Maybe some of our questions can be answered there," Ginny said.

"Perhaps we can do that at a later point but right now, muggles are coming the closest they've ever come to discovering out existence. Even in the Middle Ages we didn't have this problem because now, muggles know what our secrets are, even if they can't see them…"

"And what exactly is this big issue that puts us all in such danger?" Ginny interrupted, yet again.

"I was going to get to that Mrs. Potter. As I was saying, what we are facing is very serious. As it turns out, the four of you were recognized by a muggle cashier by the name of Mr. Garner at the bookshop that you visited on Christmas Eve. He has sent out copies of a video along with his theory that wizards and witches do exist to many different news companies and some of them printed pictures of you four. Now, so far, these pictures have only been printed on London newspapers, but they are being uploaded to the internet as we speak and we have reports of several muggles camping out by Platform 9 and ¾ to see if anybody will pass through. We've had to shut down the Hogwarts Express for the holidays since there was very little magic we could do without the muggles noticing and now the children are forced to return to Hogwarts by apparating to the nearest point of apparition and walking," Kingsley said.

"What's an internet," Ron asked. Even after so many years, he was ignorant to muggle customs.

"It's a type of place for sharing information," Hermione explained in the broadest definition she could use.

"Oh, so how long do y'reckon it'll be until the world has found out?" Rona asked.

"It's impossible to say at this point and there's still a slim chance that not many people will actually pay attention to the pictures and say it's just a prank. Still, this is not a chance we can afford to take, especially because the books are so popular," Kingsley said.

A sudden thought occurred to Harry. "Did you know about the books?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I did," Kingsley replied.

"Then why didn't you do anything about them before this happened?"

"Initially, the books did not pose a threat to the wizarding community. Muggles read them purely for entertainment and only the craziest of them actually tried looking for us and they didn't get very far," Kingsley said, "Now I have a question for you: How come you never heard of the books before Christmas Eve?"

"Honestly, none of us had spent any time in the muggle world in the past twenty years or so. We were just so busy with the Post-War clean up and with our families and work that we never really had the time to venture beyond the wizarding community. Besides, nobody ever mentioned them to us. I reckon everybody thought that we read them or they were too embarrassed to know so much about our early lives," Harry said.

"Well, I strongly suggest that none of you venture into the muggle world for some time. We don't need any stray pictures taken that could end up online. Since a very small portion of the wizarding community is described in full detail by the books, it won't be difficult to isolate the wizarding community until the muggles decide that some celebrity's new baby is more exciting," Kingsley said, standing up from his seat at the table. He shook everybody's hands except for the Ministry workers and the three of them, plus Percy who was strangely quiet, walked outside and apparated away.

The remaining six people sat at the table in silence for a long while until Hermione stood up and walked back upstairs without saying a word. Ron followed her, then Harry, and then Ginny. They all walked up the stairs to Hermione and Ginny's old room. When they walked inside, Hermione shut the door and cast a charm that would allow them to talk without anybody hearing them.

"Okay guys, I think we all know what we need to do," said Hermione, facing the other three who had settled on the two beds.

"Please enlighten me dear Hermione, I'm not as clever as you," Ron said.

Hermione blushed before continuing.

"We need to find J.K. Rowling."


	5. Chapter 5

**So this chapter is going to be a bit controversial because it involves the quartet meeting J.K. Rowling. I don't know anything about her true writing process or her lifestyle or her home and the bit about the train I read in an autobiography. I do not mean to offend her or her process or her lifestyle in any way so I'm apologizing in advance. She's only in here to advance the plot and whatnot.**

**Now that that's off my chest, I would also like to say that sadly, I don't own Harry Potter, it's all J.K. Rowling's no matter how she writes it or where she lives. :)**

**Okay here's Chapter 5...Read, review and hopefully, enjoy!**

**Thanks for everybody who has stuck with the story so far! I really do appreciate all of your support!**

Chapter 5

During the days after Christmas, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione stayed in the Potter's house. They spent most of their time sitting in the living room trying to figure out the best ways on how to approach J.K. Rowling. After hours of debate over the pros and cons of Polyjuice Potion, the Invisibility Cloak, shielding spells, and even simple muggle disguises, the group decided that only Harry and Hermione would enter her house in no disguises. They felt that they would get the most information from Rowling if she knew who they actually were. Harry would be there because he was the most well known out of the four by Rowling and Hermione would be there to notice anything peculiar. Ron and Ginny, however, would be outside keeping guard with the use of Hermione's stash of Polyjuice Potion and some muggle hairs they would pick up on the way there.

Finally, after all of their plans were set, the four set off at the very end of the Christmas holidays to London to pick up hairs and then to J.K. Rowling's house. Nobody knew how Hermione had obtained J.K. Rowling's address but they figured it was just another one of her many secrets.

In London, Harry and Hermione stayed under the Invisibility Cloak on the outskirts while Ron and Ginny wore heavy muggle cloaks and hats to cover their faces while they walked through the city. In twenty minutes, the two returned with hairs from a muggle couple they saw in a shop. They added the hairs to the potion and the cups both turned a violent shade of turquoise.

"I actually think I prefer this color over yours, Harry," Ron said while inspecting his cup.

The potion made Ron turn into a old, squat, balding man with small round glasses. His clothes had become too big for him so Hermione shrunk them with a shrinking charm. On the other hand, Ginny turned into a tall and beautiful young woman with long brown hair.

"Blimey, that man must've been rich," Harry said while "inspecting" Ginny. Ginny-as-the-brunette glared at him.

"Okay, enough with the comments. We should start heading over now before the potion wears off. I want as much time as I can to interrogate her," Hermione said. She led them all over to the nearest apparition point and the apparated behind some bushes on the end of J.K. Rowling's street. Ron and Ginny walked towards the open street, looked around, and began talking to each other, which then signaled Harry and Hermione to walk towards Rowling's house.

The house was the third one on the right and it was gray with olive green shutters around the windows. There was a small, but well-kept, garden in the front of the house and a stone path led to the porch, which then led to the front door. Harry went first, walking cautiously in case there were any traps, and rang the doorbell. About a minute later, a dirty blond haired woman opened the door. Her kind blue-gray eyes stared up at them blankly.

"Er, does Joanne Kathleen Rowling live here?" Harry asked.

"Who?" the woman asked.

"Er, uh, J.K. Rowling…do you know her?" Harry asked again.

The woman visibly shot up straighter and her eyes became more alert. "Yes, I am her. What do you want?"

"Well, um you probably aren't going to believe me, but I'm Harry Potter and this is Hermione Granger," Harry said. He pointed at Hermione when he said her name and she waved.

"Ah, yes, yes of course. I was wondering when you'd come around," she said and beckoned them inside.

Once Harry was inside, he saw that the front of the house had been deceiving. The inside of the house was the polar opposite of the immaculate garden out front. There was food and broken glass all over the floor. A small bookshelf in the entrance hall held only two books because the rest of them were ripped to shreds and scattered on the carpet. He saw that in the kitchen, which was through an archway to his left, dishes lay broken and dirty in both the sink and on the counters. The whole house looked as if it had never been dusted or vacuumed and Harry was sure he saw a shadow in the form of a rat move across the back end of the kitchen. Harry stopped walking in and he saw Hermione do the same out of the corner of his eye. He could also see that she had her hand near her wand pocket.

J.K. Rowling still beckoned them forward and led them into the living room, which looked even worse than the entrance hall. Pots of plants had been smashed and the dirt had seeped into the carpet and some plants were growing in it. The TV had a hole through the center and every lamp was lying on the floor in a pile of glass. The couches had holes ripped out and the stuffing was not only on the floor, but stuffed in broken China cabinets. The walls were stained and the wallpaper peeled off in large chunks. The whole scene reminded Harry of when he visited Slughorn with Dumbledore in his sixth year, but about ten times worse.

"Oh, do excuse the mess," Rowling said, trying to lift up a lamp. She cut her hand on a shard of glass and dropped the lamp abruptly.

"It's okay, Mrs. Rowling. We just wanted to ask a few questions," Hermione said. At her words, J.K. Rowling stared up at the ceiling with the same blank look in her eyes that had been there when she opened the door.

"They…sun…bright…say…how…I…light…" she mumbled.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Rowling. We couldn't catch that," Hermione said. She looked over at Harry and he also reached for his wand. Rowling snapped her head back towards the two and inspected them. Then, she walked over, picked up a piece of couch stuffing, and tried to hand it to Harry, but he refused to take it.

"Here, try some tea. I make very good tea. Very, very, very, good tea," she said in a trancelike voice.

"Er, no, sorry," Harry said while backing away, "I already had tea." J.K. Rowling dropped the stuffing and returned to staring at the ceiling.

"How…no…don't…don't…no…please…no!" Rowling said, now covering her head with her hands and ducking to the floor. She rolled around in the dirty floor before another piece of glass cut her and she stood up sharply.

"Uh, Mrs. Rowling, are you okay?" Hermione asked. Rowling had seemed to become alert again after being cut.

"Yes, yes but why are you two staring like that?" Rowling asked.

"Well, it's just…um…nevermind. Anyways, we wanted to know how you came up with the idea of Harry Potter," Hermione said.

"Hmm. Honestly, all I can remember is sitting in a train and this idea came to me. It was a weird sensation, kind of like a warm cloak was wrapped over me. Then, I honestly don't remember much else about writing the book except that I was in this café most of the time…" Rowling said. She looked off into the distance during the last sentence, as if she was trying hard to remember something.

"So you don't remember anything about where you got the ideas?" Hermione asked.

"What did you say again dearie?" Rowling asked, returning to her blank stare again.

"Oh, just nothing, we were just leaving anyways," Hermione said, realizing that the situation was now hopeless.

"Would you like some tea? Here, try some tea. I make very good tea. Very, very, very, good tea," Rowling said, this time holding out a shard of glass she had pulled out from her skin when she fell.

"Uh, sorry, we have to go," Hermione said quickly. She grabbed Harry's hand and the two of them ran outside into the daylight and away from the horrors inside J.K. Rowling's house.

"Well, that was freaky," Harry panted. He was getting old and it was showing in his athletic ability even though he still played Quidditch.

"Yeah, let's go find the others. I have some ideas about what might've happened to her," Hermione said. She started walking to the designated meeting spot but Ron and Ginny weren't there. They waited for about ten minutes before they got worried and started searching the area. They both knew that they had to get away from the street and the neighborhood before somebody recognized them but they didn't want to leave Ron and Ginny. Suddenly, they saw Ron, transforming back into his regular self, running towards them. He had a hard time, partly because he was limping from an injury and partly because his body was shifting. When he got to them, he was back to being Ron and they saw many cuts up and down his body. He put his hands on his knees and panted heavily. After a minute, he caught his breath and was able to sputter out one sentence.

"They…they took…they took Ginny," he said before passing out on the ground.

**Yep, I did it. I added a cliche ending. It's so reminiscent of Quirrel though. *sigh***

**Anyways, please review!  
**

**Thank you so much!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**So this is a short chapter but I didn't want it to be lost with everything else that will happen.**

**Again, I don't own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with him: it's all J.K. Rowling's. And I also apologize for any Rowling-bashing. Anything said about her is for the story only, it doesn't reflect my beliefs as a fan.**

**Anyways, read, review, and hopefully, enjoy! (I think I should change this little phrase thing, I'm kinda tired of it)**

Chapter 6

"Harry, stay here and try to revive Ron. Give him some of this: it'll help with the healing," Hermione said, handing him a small bottle that she retrieved from her handbag.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked as Hermione walked away from him and into another group of bushes next to their meeting point.

"I just need to check something," she said. Harry chose not to question her further.

Harry waited with Ron and carefully fed him the potion. Tears flowed from his eyes as he thought about Ginny. He didn't know who took her but he could almost guarantee that they were hurting her. He checked Ron's injuries and found that there was a deep gash running through his leg from his thigh to his ankle and that there were also multiple scratches all over his body, which didn't help to calm his thoughts about Ginny. Blood flowed freely from the cuts, even with the potion helping him, but Harry didn't dare try any healing spell in case he hurt him.

"How's he doing?" Hermione asked as she returned from the bushes.

"Not good, he hasn't woken up and he' losing a lot of blood," Harry said. He found it difficult to get all the words out from crying so hard.

"Then we should apparate back to the house since it's well-protected and work out everything there. I don't think it'd be safe to go to St. Mungo's since there seems to be a group of very dangerous wizards after us," Hermione said.

"What about Ginny? Are we just going to let them hurt her like they did to Ron! We can't just sit here and tend after Ron's wounds when Ginny could be dying!" Harry yelled.

"Harry, trust me, I understand. Ginny's my best friend but we don't have a clue as to who did this or where they took her. I just tried to locate her and they have her shielded by magic that I can't even penetrate. She's strong. She'll survive. She has to…" Hermione said, mumbling the last part under her breath. She knew that Ginny's death would devastate Harry. It would be yet another tragedy in his life.

Harry glared at Hermione but he lifted Ron onto his back. Hermione apparated the three of them back to the Potter's house and, despite the circumstances, she couldn't help but reflect that it was just like old times: the three of them fighting against some sort of bad guy.

At the house, Hermione set to work on Ron as quickly as she could while Harry paced the room, sobbing, and occasionally punched the wall. When it looked like Ron was guaranteed to survive, she got up from her place beside him and walked over to Harry. He was now facing the wall and when he turned, Hermione saw a combination of rage and sadness that she had never seen in his eyes before. They were wet and red from crying, but she had never seen his eyes look so penetrating and vibrant.

"Harry…I'm…I'm sorry…we are going to find her," Hermione said.

"She was mine. Before my kids, she was my family and even though you and Ron and everyone else mean the world to me, she was mine. She was my world…the one family I had since Voldemort took the rest from me. Now, she's gone and I don't know where the hell she is! She's gone! Voldemort took away my parents but this is worse. It's as if he capturers were taunting me, holding her in front of me to just to take her away! I love her and she's gone. I should've been there. If it weren't for that stupid muggle book about me, she'd still be here. If we didn't listen to that batty old muggle go on and on about that random shit, we could've saved her!" Harry yelled. Every time he reached the end of a major point, he would bang the wall in frustration. He then turned and grabbed a picture of their wedding day from a side table, Ginny in Harry's arms, both of them grinning like a pair of idiots. He took it to the couch, sat down, and stared at it with fresh tears rolling down his face. Hermione stood as still as she could back by the wall.

"Harry…" she said after a few minutes, "I think we should try and be rational about this. There was no way that we could've know that Ron and Ginny would be ambushed. We only took precautions because of muggles, not because of wizards. My feeling is that if these wizards went to the trouble of capturing Ginny and attempting to capture Ron, then they should be back for us again and then we can go to Ginny. Hope is not lost yet, Harry," Hermione said softly.

At the end of her short speech, Harry looked up from the couch. His eyes no longer showed rage but a instead a fierce determination that again, Hermione had never seen before.

"I need her back Hermione. I've been through too much to lose her now," Harry said.

"I know. Which is why we should wait for Ron to wake up and then use what information he has to devise a plan to get the capturers to come back for us," Hermione said, still trying to stay calm.

Harry continued to stare at Hermione until he turned back to look at the wedding picture. A final tear dropped from his eye onto the picture. He put the picture back on the table and walked up the stairs to his bedroom and slammed the door shut. Hermione levitated Ron up the stairs and into the spare bedroom next to Harry and Ginny's room. She undressed Ron and put him in PJ's, then did the same to herself. Even though her mind was spinning with ideas, she was able to fall asleep in less than ten minutes.

Somewhere across England, Ginny Potter was thrown into a dark cellar after having been tortured almost to insanity. The last thought in her head before passing out from the pain was that Harry would come and save her from the hell she was in.

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own anything from Harry Potter: it's all J.K. Rowling's stuff. Also, anything about Rowling in here is just for the plot and doesn't necessarily reflect the truth or what I think of her.**

**Anyways, read and review and enjoy!**

Chapter 7

The next morning, Hermione woke up before dawn and went downstairs to make a breakfast of eggs and toast for everybody. An hour or so later, Harry walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table, staring into space. Even when Hermione placed a plate in front of him, Harry continued to stare at a point beyond Hermione. His face was red and puffy, the telltale signs of a sleepless night spent crying. Hermione left the kitchen and retrieved a book from a small bookshelf that the Potters had in their living room and sat down on a large armchair facing the fireplace. She read well into the morning and when Ron finally came downstairs to eat breakfast, Hermione had almost finished the book.

"Good morning Ron," Hermione said, looking up from her book and looking up at her husband.

"Blimey, what happened? Merlin, my head hurts like hell. How long was I out?" Ron said while rubbing his head and trying to clear away the sleepiness.

"Only a night. I don't know much about what happened yesterday, that's why I was waiting for you to wake up and tell us," Hermione said.

"Where's Harry and Ginny?" Ron asked, looking around the room.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "Well, Harry's in the kitchen."

"And Ginny?" Ron asked again.

"Well, uh, you see, yesterday, you and Ginny were ambushed when Harry and I went to see J.K. Rowling, but we don't know what happened during the ambush except that Ginny was taken and we don't know where she is now…that's what we wanted to ask you cause you might've seen the attackers," Hermione said.

Ron stumbled over to the couch and fell on to it. He stared at Hermione in a shock.

"What?!" Ron yelled.

"I know, I know this is extremely difficult. She's my best friend, I love her too, but we can't sit here and mourn her loss when we should be out looking for her," Hermione said. Her voice became sharper as she spoke.

"Blimey Hermione, can't anybody have emotions around here," Ron said, taken aback.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It's just this is too hard…I mean Ginny means the world to all of us and I want her to be back here and I don't want people to be upset because I'm hoping she's not truly gone and all these emotions are reminding me of what would happen if she ever died after being taken and I don't want that to happen and I don't want to have to think about it so I just want everybody to stop being sad, at least visibly, so that we can focus on getting Ginny back instead of thinking about her dying," Hermione rambled.

"Okay then," Ron said, leaning back on the couch, "what do you propose we do then?"

"Well, first…do you remember anything about yesterday?" Hermione asked.

Ron's eyebrows furrowed together as he concentrated. His next words sounded forced as he struggled to find the proper words to describe the situation. "All…all…all I can remember…at least what I think I can remember are flashes of bright light…and some screaming, I think…I can't see any faces because I think they have some sort of cloak on. But…but it was painful, I remember that part. There was a lot of pain," Ron said slowly.

"Is that all you can remember?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, for now though. Hopefully I'll remember more later…" Ron said.

It took Hermione a few minutes to respond. "Okay. Get Harry in here. I have some ideas about both J.K. Rowling and about how to get Ginny back," Hermione said. After Ron disappeared into the kitchen, she curled up in the chair and cried. The tears ran down her cheeks and left warm streaks on her face. They fell onto her hands and lap where she watched them form a puddle in her palms. For that moment, she didn't care if Ron or Harry walked in, but luckily for her, nobody left the kitchen for a good ten minutes. When the kitchen door began to creak open, Hermione quickly straightened up, wiped her eyes, and opened her book to a random page.

"Hermione, you realize that book's upside down," Ron said, leading a stricken Harry to the couch.

"Oh, yeah…it's um a secret way of reading the book," Hermione lied.

Ron looked at her suspiciously and Hermione prayed that he wouldn't notice how bloodshot her eyes probably were.

"So Hermione, what's your plan," Harry said.

Hermione, startled by Harry's bluntness, tried to compose herself enough to answer the question.

"Uh, first things first, I'm sure that J.K. Rowling's mind has been tampered with the Imperious Curse at the very least. She's also probably had her mind erased too many times for it to be healthy, hence the periods of fits. Obviously, this shows the work of either a really powerful wizard or several also powerful ones," Hermione started.

"Do you think she could've been tortured and that's why she's so insane?" Harry asked.

"It's a possibility but I don't see why the wizard or wizards would need to torture her…she's a muggle and can't necessarily fight back if they tried to use a spell or curse on her," Hermione said, "Anyways, I feel that to get Ginny back we need to bait the people that took her. As I said yesterday, they probably don't just want Ginny, they want all of us. We just need to give them the opportunity to show themselves and then we can follow them to Ginny."

"So then what's your plan?" Ron asked.

"I was getting to that Ron. So here's what I was thinking…"

**Yeah so I have a hard time trying to think of plans so I'm kinda trying to put the whole Ginny plan off as long as I can (obviously haha :D ).**

**Still, thanks for reading and please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**So I felt really bad for making the last two chapters kinda shorter and not really that monumental so I made this one extra long to make up for it :).**

**Again, I don't own anything (it's J.K. Rowling's stuff) and anything I say about Rowling is for the story's purpose only.**

**Read and review and enjoy!**

Chapter 8

While Hermione told Ron and Harry her idea, they sat and watched her intently, nodding at important points. Hermione wasn't sure if they actually thought the plan was good or if they were so desperate that they would agree to anything, no matter how crazy it was.

For the next few days, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed at the Potter's house and worked on fine-tuning and setting up their plan. Unless they talked about the plan, none of them said anything even though Ginny was constantly on their minds. As the days wore on, the tension grew as the trio became more and more anxious. They all tried to work as swiftly as they could: Ginny's life was on the line, and they knew it.

"Why did you start searching for J.K. Rowling!?" the cloaked man screamed.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Ginny yelled back with as much force as she could.

"You lying bitch! Every day you say the same thing and every day I'm forced to hurt you. If you would just answer my questions, then you will be able to go free," the man yelled.

Ginny knew the man was lying as well and that he would kill her once she gave him answers. She stayed quiet for the sake of her friends and herself.

"_Crucio!_" the man yelled.

Even though the curse had been used on Ginny many times in the last few days, the pain was excruciating every time. When she felt like she could no longer take the agonizing pain, the man released the curse. She was curled up on the stone floor, gasping for air.

"Are you prepared to answer now?" the man asked her. Even though Ginny couldn't see his face, she knew he was sneering.

"No…" she gasped.

"_Crucio!_" the man roared. Ginny's screams echoed again throughout the stone walled cellar. The pain was white hot and blinding and she began to see black spots in her eyes. The man released the curse when he realized she would pass out if he kept it going for a few more seconds.

The man now realized that she wouldn't cooperate if he used the Cruciatus curse so he decided to put it to rest for the night. He would come back tomorrow and use a form of muggle torture that he had learned through the years…

"Fine, if you won't tell me what you know you dirty, lying, bitch, you'll just have to wait for tomorrow. Then, I'll get it out of you," he sneered. He turned around, his black cloak billowing behind him, and he strode out, slamming the heavy wooden door shut.

Ginny pulled herself into a sitting position against the wall and tried to catch her breath. Her knotted hair fell into her face. Her entire body was covered with blood and dirt, the scars of the words _blood traitor_ and _bitch _carved on her arms and legs. Even though she had been tortured constantly for the past few days, she was still able to think somewhat clearly but all she could ask herself was why the man tortured her for information. _Why doesn't he just use a truth potion? _she wondered. Still, even these few thoughts exhausted her and most of the time, a picture of Harry was ingrained in her brain.

About an hour later, or so Ginny guessed because there was no way to tell time in the cellar, a bowl of broth appeared by the door. It was cold and slimy, but Ginny drank it down anyways. It was all she had to eat since she was captured.

Her capture had been a blur to her: all she remembered was her and Ron turning around on a road perpendicular to J.K. Rowling's street when three cloaked figures apparated in front of them. She remembered shooting dozens of spells at her attackers and getting cut by the spells they sent at her, even though her adrenaline blocked out the pain. She also remembered Ron receiving a huge gash, her screaming at the blood, and a flash of yellow light. Then, her memory went blank and the next thing she knew, she faced a wooden floor and was tortured for answers before being thrown in the cellar.

After Ginny had eaten, she sat back against the wall and tried not to cry. This wasn't too hard since there wasn't enough water in her body to support tears but every so often, she would let out a dry and gravelly sob. When she decided that there was nothing left for her to do, she laid down, wrapped her arm under her head and fell into a fitful sleep, her torture experiences haunting her even when she was sleeping.

Suddenly, a bang, sounding almost like thunder, woke her up. She shot up but felt lightheaded so she leaned against the wall before trying to stand. Once she was on her shaky feet, she edged her way along the cold wall to the side of the door to see if she could hear what was going on. The effort almost took all the energy out of her so she collapsed next to door. Still, she was able to hear signs of a struggle upstairs and the noises and yelling came closer to the door. The door slammed open and Ginny, lucky to be on the side opposite where the door opened, jumped back as much as her strained body would allow. A cloaked figure threw somebody in the cellar and slammed the door shut.

"Hello? Who's there?" Ginny whispered. It was all the volume she could manage without passing out from the exertion of speaking.

"Ginny? Ginny, honey is that you?" Harry said, excitement building in his voice.

"Harry!" Ginny tried to walk over to where he was but fell as soon as she stood up.

"Ginny!" Harry ran the short distance to Ginny and sat down next to her. He maneuvered himself so that he was supporting her and hugged her as tightly as he would dare. He moved her head to his face and they shared a passionate kiss until Ginny reluctantly broke away because she had run out of air.

"Ginny, what did they do to you?" Harry asked, his eyes widening. He couldn't see well in the dark cellar but he could feel her bones protruding from her skin and cuts and scabs on her body, even though it had only been a few days. When he felt the ends of his fingers after touching Ginny's face, a layer of grime covered them.

"I…it's a long story," she said and used the last of her energy to put all of her joy of seeing him into a broad smile before passing out and falling into Harry's lap.

Harry spent the rest of the night stroking Ginny's tangled hair and plotting ways to hurt her capturers for what they did to his Ginny.

Three hours earlier, Ron stepped out onto J.K. Rowling's street after apparating from Harry's house. He strode confidently, but his heart was beating fast and pools of sweat were forming in his palms. Hermione's plan was ridiculously dangerous, but it might work if he played his part right. He walked to the gray house and knocked after adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses. From the corner of his eye, he saw another Ron and Hermione walking down the street. Nobody answered the door after a few minutes so Ron ducked to the side of the house. He briefly caught his reflection in a window and saw Harry looking back at him.

Ron-as-Harry waited in a crouch on the side of the house while Harry-as-Ron and Hermione walked up and down the street. When they had their backs turned to the same road that Ron and Ginny had been on before getting ambushed, a trio of cloaked wizards apparated and stealthily made their way to the pair. However, Harry-as-Ron and Hermione had heard the crack and turned around, throwing spells at the approaching trio but not actually trying to hurt them. It only took a few more seconds until Harry-as-Ron, purposefully placing himself in front of Hermione, was captured by the trio. Ropes sprang out of the edge of their wands and trapped his wriggling body inside: Harry needed to look as if he was struggling to escape or else the wizards might suspect something. Hermione, purposefully twisting her face into a look of fear, tried to apparate away but there seemed to be a spell blocking her. Since this wasn't accounted for in the original plan, Hermione's fear turned real and her spells became more frenzied as she ran backwards down the street. Strangely, the trio didn't pursue her, they only sent a few more basic cutting spells her way, and apparated away with Harry-as-Ron after picking up his wand from where it dropped on the road.

Hermione stood still in the middle of the road. She looked confused but, remembering the real Ron, she ran to J.K. Rowling's house. When she didn't see Ron waving from inside the house, where he said he'd be, she was terrified that something happened to him until Ron (still in Harry's form) ran out from the side of the house. She cried out in joy and they embraced, Hermione clutching Ron tightly. When they broke apart, Hermione looked at the house, a question forming in her mind.

"Why weren't you in there?" Hermione asked.

"Um, I knocked and nobody answered so I ran to the side so that I wouldn't be seen and ruin the plan…" Ron explained.

Hermione nodded, only half-listening after Ron explained why he hadn't been in the house, and walked up the stairs. She knocked but still, nobody answered. She tried the handle, but the door was locked.

"_Alohamora," _she whispered. The lock clicked open and the door opened slightly. Pushing the door open wide enough so that she could fit through it, Hermione tested the floor for creaks before setting all her weight on it.

"Can you see anything?" Harry whispered. Hermione shook her head and gave him the "hush" sign with her pointer finger.

Hermione crept into the entrance hall. It look as messy as it had when they visited it a few days ago. She crept into the living room, which also looked the same. Ron started to change back into himself so he remained in the entrance hall while Hermione began to inspect the rest of the house, working her way back from the living room, then into the kitchen, and then back to go up the stairs. On the second floor, Hermione walked down a short hallway, slowly opening all the doors to inspect what was inside. As with the first floor, they were all messy and disgusting, but there was no sign of J.K. Rowling or anyone else. Only when she got to the master bedroom at the end of the hall did she find Rowling: her throat slit and her body limp on her bed. There was blood on the bedspread and splattered on the walls. Hermione gasped before slamming the door shut and running downstairs into Ron's arms.

"Hermione, what's wrong? What's up there? What did you see?" Ron asked, shaken by Hermione's fright.

"Let's…let's just go. Rowling's dead," Hermione said, choking back tears. She pulled Ron out of the house and onto the street where they apparated back to Harry's house. Even though Hermione remained stricken after seeing Rowling's body, she was able to rest for the night. After a few preparations in the morning, Hermione and Ron set out again just as the sun rose.

The second part of the plan was about to begin.

**Thanks for reading and also thanks to everybody who's reviewed and who's stuck with the story so far...it really makes me happy to see supporters! :D**

**I'm going to try and get as much of this story done as I can before school starts because once I do, it'll be hard for me to update regularly.**

**Thanks again for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**So I don't anything or anyone in the World of Harry Potter, it's all J.K. Rowling's stuff. Also, nothing about her in here is true and none of it reflects my opinions of her...it's all here for the plot.**

**Please read and review and enjoy!**

Chapter 9

Hermione and Ron walked to the end of the Potter's pathway before Hermione cast a spell that created a long golden trail that zipped out into the road. Thankfully, the trail was only visible to magical people so the two could just cover themselves up in heavy muggle clothing and follow the trail. When they passed the line, it faded behind them so that nobody could follow them. The whole spell, as Hermione had explained to Ron and Harry earlier, had been developed by Hermione so that she could always track her parents since the memory spell she used of them was too strong to break. She had tried to use the spell on Ginny earlier, but there had been so many spells guarding her that the line couldn't find her. However, in this case, Hermione had prepped Harry with spells of her own to make him visible to her tracking spell.

As soon as the line took the two out of populated areas and into the country, Hermione cast another spell that made her and Ron speed along the line, blurring the landscape and making Hermione nauseous: flying or sensations of flying still didn't agree with her.

Finally, when Hermione saw that the line ended at a dark mansion about a mile away, she quickly stopped both spells so that she wouldn't set off any alarms by zooming into the property. The mansion was in the middle of several sloping hills and it was surrounded by large hedges. Her and Ron hiked underneath the Invisibility Cloak to the mansion and Hermione kept sending off spells to search for shields and alarms but they didn't find any until they were directly behind the hedges. Hermione and Ron walked around the perimeter of the mansion while Hermione thought of ways to break in and Ron gaped at the size of the mansion. When they were done walking all the way around, Hermione turned to Ron.

"So here's what we are going to do…" she whispered to him.

Meanwhile, inside the mansion, Ginny woke up to find herself in Harry's arms with him dozing off, his head tilted at an awkward angle against the wall. Ginny, joy returning to her when she realized she wasn't dreaming, stretched up to plant a kiss on his lips. The force of the kiss accidentally woke him up.

"Where are we?" Harry mumbled. He tried to keep his eyes open long enough to see his surroundings but it was still as dark as the night before.

"Still in a cellar in who knows where," Ginny replied. Two bowls of broth appeared by the door and even though Ginny was excited to see something to eat, she knew that she was going to be brought upstairs to be tortured soon. With great reluctance, she dragged herself over to the bowls while Harry tried to wrap his head around everything that had happened during the previous day and night. Ginny brought back a bowl and placed it in his hands.

"Eat this. It's disgusting but it's all you get and you need everything you can before they torture you," Ginny said. Then, she gulped down her soup and wiped her mouth. Harry copied her and they placed their bowls down on the floor before Harry pulled Ginny back in his arms. They were both scared but took comfort in each other's presence, even if they didn't say anything. The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable or awkward, it just fit the pair, and all of their unspoken words passed in the dark air in front of them.

Suddenly, the pair was pulled from their silent conversation with a bang similar to the one Ginny heard last night. The jolted to their feet and Ginny was able to stand without support after resting, even though she felt a bit lightheaded. In almost a repeat of last night, the door smashed open and a cloaked figure came in. However, instead of somebody being thrown in, the man grabbed both Harry and Ginny and forced them up a small stone staircase and out of another wooden door. The door led to a large, dark gray sitting room furnished with a few black sofas. Ginny recognized the room as the one where she was brought in on the first day. In the middle of the room, Ron and Hermione were levitating, ropes binding their arms and legs and their wands were on a table on the other side of the room. Harry didn't see his or Ginny's wands on the table.

"Wha-what happened?" Harry asked Ron before the man pointed a wand at Harry and silenced him.

"We tried to sneak in with the Invisibility Cloak but they found us," Ron replied quickly. The man silenced Ron with his wand before he could describe their capture further.

The man threw Ginny and Harry to the center of the room and bound them like Ron and Hermione. When he was up in the air, Harry found that he couldn't turn his head to look at his friends.

"Boss wants to speak to all of you. He needs to tell you something real special," the cloaked man said, coming closer to the quartet. He pulled off his cloak and the four were surprised to see that he had flaming red hair and freckles identical to the Weasley's. There was a large smirk on his face.

"Tyler, be nice to the poor captives. I think it's time they learn why they're here," a man's voice echoed from an adjoining room.

Tyler immediately stepped away and ducked his head. Another redheaded man with freckles strode out of the side room. The four friends gaped and it was only until the man stopped in front of them that Ron was able to form a single worded question.

"Dad?"

**I'm so sorry...every time I return to write this story, it gets further and further out of my hands and I can't stop it now. I know that it seems like an absurd thing now, but I'll get around to explaining his reasons in the next few chapters.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and thanks for everybody who's stuck with the story so far!**


	10. Chapter 10

**So this chapter is all explanations and stuff. I tried to bring together everything about Arthur Weasley and his past as best as I could but if you have any questions as to his intentions or anything that was mentioned, please write it in a review or PM and I'll try my best to sort it out. Also, I'm sorry for the long delay in writing this...it's just that this is the hardest chapter to date because of all the explanations and whatnot.**

**Anyways, my disclaimers are the same and before and read, review and enjoy!**

Chapter 10

"Yes, Ron, I'd think you'd be able to recognize your own father," Mr. Weasley said.

"Bu-bu-but _how_? _Why_?" Ron asked, finding that Tyler had lifted the silencing spell. He was still the only one capable of speaking because the other three were in too much shock.

"Well, if you'd let me explain I will," Mr. Weasley said. He looked at Ron as if to ask permission to continue and Ron, losing his own ability to speak, just nodded. "When I first started Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I had an unusual fascination with muggles because I was never really exposed to them. I was very different back then, a lot more understanding and generous I guess, which is perhaps why I was sorted into Gryffindor over Slytherin. Anyways, my parents had never let me see much of the muggle world, so in Hogwarts, I was able to interact with muggle borns and find out more about muggle customs. Despite my earlier fascinations, I found muggles and their way of life to be unintelligent and that they were inferior to the wizarding race. I thought that any witch or wizard that was interacting with them was just as inferior to the rest of us. Most would say these were the ideas behind Lord Voldemort's rise to power. Seeing my conclusions on muggles, Lord Voldemort approached me well into my third year and offered me a position in his crew of supporters, promising me that if he won over the wizarding community, muggles would be forced to be our slaves and their ways of life abandoned. Being in Gryffindor helped my cause because then, I would be able to join the Order after Hogwarts and spy on it. I accepted the offer and went undercover for the Dark Lord starting my fourth year. By the time I was out of Hogwarts and in the Order, I had established a persona for myself as a muggle-obsessed, but kind wizard. This persona took work to maintain myself as I saw the rebellion against Voldemort ally itself with muggle borns, but everybody bought it due to my earlier fascination,

"All was going well, I was spying for Lord Voldemort successfully and I had married a woman I loved dearly and she was pregnant with a child," Mr. Weasley started.

"Do you love mum? Or is that all a scam too?" Ron asked.

"I truly do love your mother. After all, we met in Hogwarts before the Dark Lord approached me. Still, I never told her about my work and surprisingly, she never learned the truth," Mr. Weasley said.

"Oh," Ron said.

"Continuing on with my story. So, I was at a high point in my life even though nobody knew it. Then, when Lord Voldemort lost power, I was scared that I might be discovered, even though I wasn't an official Death Eater. Luckily, I was able to still trick others with my 'alter ego.' There were many times when I doubted myself as a person and when I seriously considered switching back to the Order's side. But then I'd think about their close association with the repulsive race of muggles and muggle borns and in that I was able to persevere from disgust. During the time that the Dark Lord was suspected dead, I remained a father and husband and an ally to all those unsuspecting people, including you four. It was through my ability to trick others with appearances that I was able to fight my way through the painful years of waiting for change and running from my hidden associations with the Dark Lord.

"Finally, in Harry's third year, when Pettigrew escaped back to the Dark Lord, I knew that he was alive and waiting for one of his most faithful spies to serve him again. In almost a déjà vu moment of my fourth year, I helped feed him information about the Triwizard Cup, which wasn't difficult considering my position at the Ministry of Magic. I know most people think that the information was from Bertha Jorkins, but as strong and powerful as the Dark Lord is, she was just too naïve to pick up on much that was happening around the Ministry even if she was a big gossip. When the Dark Lord rose back to power that year, I allowed myself a quiet celebration for the return of my master. The next year, I failed him. The Order, which had usually kept me informed, left me out, probably under Dumbledore's recommendation. I think he was beginning to see my true desires but fortunately for me, he died before he could find out anything more. Still, the Order would hold secret meetings at night that I was unaware of at the time. Lord Voldemort saw many things pass under his nose that he knew I should've told him so when the Order put me on guard duty as a ploy to make me think I was still a part of the Order, Lord Voldemort set Nagini on me as a punishment for my incompetence. Later, during all the fights and battles against the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort's allies, I had to fight in order to prove to the Order that I was still allied with them, but I never tried to hurt anybody on the Dark Lord's side," Mr. Weasley said and paused. The pause proved a mistake in his story telling because all four of the captives jumped on him at once with their own comments on the story.

"YOU'RE A DESPICABLE, LYING, COW! YOU BLOODY BASTARD! YOU WERE MY FATHER, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON OUR SIDE! WHAT WAS ALL THAT RUBBISH YOU FED US FOR OVER FORTY YEARS…THE RUBBISH YOU TOLD US SINCE WE WERE BORN! I CAN'T BLOODY BELIEVE THAT AFTER FORTY DAMN YEARS I CAN'T EVEN SAY I KNOW MY OWN DAMN FATHER!" Ron yelled, his face turning a deep shade of red and his blue eyes glinting with fury.

"ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU FRIGGING ASSHOLE, I PROMISE TO MAKE IT THE LAST TIME YOU EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF ANOTHER DAY!" Ginny screamed alongside her brother, her face color matching his.

"I TRUSTED YOU! I TRUSTED YOUR JUDGEMENT AND YOUR ADVICE AND WHAT? YOU TELL ME THIS HAS ALL BEEN A LIE AND THAT YOU WERE REALLY ON VOLDEMORT'S SIDE THE WHOLE TIME! YOU'RE VILE IS WHAT YOU ARE. A VILE, LYING, BETRAYER!" Harry bellowed.

"What do the books have to do with all of this?" Hermione asked, the most civilized out of the four. Even though she was furious, she wanted the answers to all her questions before she released her fury on Mr. Weasley.

"Ah, yes. A very good question Hermione," Mr. Weasley said after silencing the other three with a flick of his wand. When Harry, Ron, and Ginny looked confused since they hadn't heard the question over their shouting, Mr. Weasley smirked at Hermione.

"Perhaps you would like to repeat your question, Mrs. Granger," Mr. Weasley said. Hermione looked shocked at the use of her maiden name.

"I asked, what do the books have to do with all of this?" Hermione said, staring down Mr. Weasley after regaining her composure.

"Well, to answer that, after Lord Voldemort died, his supporters and I saw that there was little hope for reform in the wizarding world. Nearly every pureblood family had been contaminated with blood-traitors and mudbloods were becoming the most popular type of magical folk. Before going into battle at Hogwarts, we all agreed that the wizarding world had nothing to live for if it would continue to be contaminated by muggles and mudbloods and whatnot. That's why we decided to break the ultimate wizard rule: tell the muggles our secret.

"Still, even with this plan we had to be discrete. Using information that Lord Voldemort kept in a pensieve, we took a struggling muggle author and fed her memories and ideas. We didn't want to come out and tell it because then we would be arrested and sent to Azkaban even before we could spread our message. A muggle telling the world our story would most likely appeal to muggles in general while hiding the fact that wizards were in control of the situation. Not many people know of your life, Harry, and the Dark Lord's followers tried very hard to stop most witches and wizards from knowing about the books in case they got suspicious. Have you ever wondered why you returned to muggle London for almost twenty years even when so many of your younger memories are intertwined with it? That's because my followers were able to take the desire out of you to go there until one day, their magic slipped. Anyways, muggles outnumber witches and wizards a hundred thousand to one and they could overpower us just with sheer numbers. The discovery of witches and wizards has always been the most feared event in all of wizarding history because it would mean our downfall because muggles are greedy creatures. Of course, we helped with the success of the books, but our greatest mistake was ultimately in the fickleness of muggles. They never believed that the stories were true when the historical facts were just underneath their petty noses," Mr. Weasley sneered.

"How did Voldemort get the information?" Harry asked. He had continued to stare at Mr. Weasley in horror until he realized the silencing spell had been lifted and he could ask his question.

"Please don't interrupt Harry, it's rude. However, to answer your question, the Dark Lord was able to conceal his powers of the mind from even Dumbledore and he kept constant watch over you in his subconscious. I don't know the specifics of the art, but the memories he stored were then shifted to the pensieve and then into Rowling's brain. Other than those basics, I cannot answer your question. Now back to my original story before you interrupted. When I heard that you four had seen the books, I started panicking because you would probably search for answers. Then, you may discover, as you have now, that I was behind all of the Dark Lord's plans since his death, and then you would bring me to the Ministry of Magic before I could manipulate the muggle race to see the truth in J.K. Rowling's books. However, I needlessly worried about this because you four yourselves actually led them to believe in the stories and then you led yourself into my pitifully simple trap. I am Lord Voldemort's unnamed Death Eater and I am responsible for the cleansing of the wizarding race. I would rather lose my magic than let the lowlife muggles have it enter their blood. We are the superior race, but most witches and wizards have forgotten that. I made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of all the wizarding community. Wizards should be remembered in history as the great race we are, not the increasingly weak-minded people we have tended to become and that's why I chose to be a part of this great movement," Mr. Weasley ended triumphantly. The four captives tried to process all the information they had been given in the small amount of time before Mr. Weasley raised his wand to Ginny.

"Now, would you like to be the first to die?"

**Thanks for reading and thanks to all those that have supported this story!**


	11. Chapter 11

**If you want to read all my disclaimers, see one of my earlier chapters because I'm lazy and I don't want to write it all again.**

**So anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

Chapter 11

"Excuse me, Harry, but I don't remember asking your opinion on the matter," Mr. Weasley said, enjoying the pain he was giving his captives. Harry glared at him but continued to struggle. Even though Harry couldn't see Ron and Hermione, he knew that they were giving Mr. Weasley death glares as well.

Suddenly, a cry of surprise and a loud bang was heard from the front of the house. Tyler, the forgotten redheaded boy, flew backwards through the archway that Mr. Weasley had entered before and slammed against the opposite wall. The five people in the room heard a loud crack as he hit the wall and Tyler's neck drooped at an awkward angle on his body.

"Tyler!" Mr. Weasley screamed in horror. Without even thinking, he rushed over to the boy and tried to lift his head up but when he let go of Tyler's head, it dangled to the side as it had before. After checking Tyler's pulse, Mr. Weasley fell down to the floor and started weeping next to Tyler's body. He didn't notice the cloaked witches and wizards filing in from the adjoining room until they had him bound. Once this happened, Mr. Weasley snapped out of his despair and tried to escape from the ropes, just as his captives had done minutes earlier.

After binding Mr. Weasley, the lead wizard made his way over to Harry and his friends. He slipped off his hood and Harry saw that it was Kingsley Shacklebolt. He also noticed that Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Percy, Charlie, George, and Angelina had taken off their hoods and stayed behind to deal with Mr. Weasley. They all tried to hide their confusion and anger as they levitated Mr. Weasley outside to apparate him away, but seeing the betrayal of a family member and friend made it harder to contain their emotions. Mrs. Weasley was too distraught to help and she stayed behind, weeping in a corner.

All six of them, including Kingsley, were part of the new Order of the Phoenix, which turned into a sort of crime fighting organization after the death of Voldemort. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were official members and they helped the missions occasionally in their spare time. However, the four found the tasks to be somewhat boring after the excitement of fighting Voldemort.

"Hello, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. I'll get you four out of these things as quickly as I can but you guys seem to be under multiple spells so this might take a few minutes," Kingsley said. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny nodded as much as the restraints would let them since they were still trying to process the events happening around them. After Kingsley had released all the spells on the four, Ron and Hermione hugged and ran over to retrieve their wands. Ginny ran to Harry and they shared a passionate kiss before Harry went to look for his and Ginny's wands while she went to comfort her mother, who was the only Order member to stay behind. At first, Harry couldn't find their wands, but then George came over to him and gave him his wand.

"Found this in Tyler's cloak. Dunno who he is though," George said, trying to indirectly get Harry to explain who Tyler was. Everybody had already deduced that Tyler was Mr. Weasley's son because of his features, but nobody knew anything more about his life and Mr. Weasley had never said anything on the subject before he was taken away.

"I dunno either. I never asked," Harry said, looking at the dead boy, still slumped against the wall. The Order members that had just taken Mr. Weasley away would later return for Tyler.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay Harry," George said while patting Harry on the shoulder, "now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see how my Ickle Ronniekins is doing." Harry grinned at George as he turned and walked away. _Always the one for a joke, isn't he,_ Harry thought.

Harry walked over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting. After looking for their wands, they had sat down on one of the black sofas. They had their heads close together and were talking in hushed whispers. Harry went over and sat down next to Ron. Ron shifted to let Harry into their conversation.

"What are you guys talking about?" Harry asked.

"Well, before you got here, I was just telling Ron that something about this whole thing bothers me. I mean, more than the whole father-turned-evil thing. There's something here that we're missing and I can't put my finger on it yet. Ron here has just been trying to give me suggestions as to what it is," Hermione whispered.

"And how have you been Ron?" Harry asked.

"Um…well…I don't think it's actually sunk in yet. I'm still trying to get over the fact that my dad is a completely different person than I remember him to be and that's just hard to forget," Ron mumbled. Hermione, tears in her eyes, leaned over and hugged Ron. He turned to face her and Harry sat awkwardly while they hugged until Kingsley Shacklebolt motioned for Harry to join him in the adjoining room. Harry got off the couch (Ron and Hermione didn't notice) and walked over to join Kingsley.

"So, Harry, how are you doing?" Kingsley asked.

"I'm good for now. I mean, I wasn't hurt or anything but it's still a shock," Harry replied.

"Well, that's good. Anyways, I was wondering if you could tell me everything that happened to you four leading up to now," Kingsley said. Harry began to retell his side of the story from when they discovered the book up to when the Order had barged in, killed Tyler, and arrested Mr. Weasley.

"So that's when the Order came in and you pretty much know what happened then," Harry finished.

"That's a very interesting tale. All of us are still in shock over Arthur's betrayal, especially because he seemed like a nice man. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover, as the muggles say," Kingsley said. He turned to leave, but Harry wanted to ask him a question.

"Um, Kingsley, how exactly did you find us?" Harry asked.

"Ah, an excellent question. Well, as you four figured out earlier, J.K. Rowling appeared to be the link between these books and the wizarding world. Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, Angelina, and I went out to find Rowling and question her just as you seemed to have done. Unfortunately for us, we arrived too late and discovered that Rowling had been killed. Still, we were able to cast spells together that would allow us to sense which magical people had been there. It is usually pointless to cast these types of spells anywhere else because any time we would do so, it would most likely pick up hundreds of magical people. However, we figured that not many magical people had ventured into her house and therefore discovered that you had been there, as well as Ron and Hermione. Then, as the spells picked up more people, we saw Tyler had been there but we didn't know who he was at the time. It wasn't until the spell hit about twenty years back that Arthur Weasley turned up. Then, we knew that he was at least partially responsible for the books, even though we didn't know what part he played in them. Next, we used a spell similar to Hermione's tracking spell, but stronger, to hunt him down and that's how we came to be here," Kingsley said.

"Have you been able to figure out who Tyler is, beyond the fact that he is Mr. Weasley's son?" Harry asked.

"No, we haven't run any tests on him. That will have to wait until Arthur is tried and put into Azkaban because those types of genetic spells take great power even though most people think they're simple," Kingsley said.

"Oh. Also, what about the rest of Mr. Weasley's followers and supporters? I know there are more because I saw a few of them. Have you found them?" Harry asked.

"No, we haven't found any. We know that there are more but none of them were here when we arrived. We may have to conduct some tests on this house to see which witches or wizards entered, but the number of previous magical presences might be too great for us to use efficiently," Kingsley said.

"So there are more Arthur Weasley's on the loose?" Harry clarified.

"Yes, there are his supporters. Still, I don't think that they will try anything for a bit without a leader. However, I will try to keep watch for any suspicious activity that may occur in the future," Kingsley said.

"Okay, well thanks, Kingsley. You know, for saving us and all," Harry said, smiling.

Kingsley laughed a lighthearted laugh. "Yes, you were very lucky this time, Harry. Voldemort has been gone for years and you still have a hard time not attracting trouble. Please try to stay out of trouble in the future, though. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you or your friends," Kingsley said before turning away and walking back out the door. Harry saw him go over to Mrs. Weasley. Ginny, seeing that Harry was done talking with Kingsley, ran over to Harry and hugged him. Harry kissed her on the forehead and they continued to embrace until Ginny pulled away and looked at Harry.

"What did Kingsley say?" she asked.

"Oh, he was just explaining his side of the story and telling us to be careful since there are more of Mr. Weasley's supporters around," Harry said.

"Oh," Ginny said, her face starting to show some worry. Harry, noticing her expression, kissed her and pulled her in for another hug. They stayed like this for a few minutes until Ron and Hermione walked over to them.

"Kingsley said we could go now if we wanted to," Hermione said.

"Yeah, but we might be called in later this week for some questioning and stuff," Ron added.

Harry looked around the room and decided that he didn't want to stand here amidst the suffering and pain. He looked at Ginny and she nodded.

"Okay, let's go home," Harry said. The four walked outside the mansion and apparated back to their respective homes. Even though the threat of Mr. Weasley's followers remained in his mind, Harry couldn't help but feel overjoyed at the fact that Ginny was back with him again. While Harry helped Ginny magically wash the dishes and put them away, he noticed the scarred words of _blood traitor _and _bitch_ engraved on her arms. He gaped at them until Ginny noticed him and what he was staring at.

"Yeah, I know. It's all right though, I can cover them up," Ginny said and she turned back to the dishes. Harry couldn't believe her nonchalance.

"Are you sure? We could have them checked out by the healers at St. Mungo's and see if they can do anything about them," Harry said.

Ginny blushed in embarrassment and tried to turn her head away so that Harry couldn't see it.

"No, it's fine," Ginny said firmly.

Harry decided not to press the matter because now he knew that Ginny didn't want others to see the scars. They were too hurtful for others to see and he knew that she didn't want to be mocked for the words engraved in her skin. Harry looked down at his own hand and if he tried hard enough, he could see the faint lines that resulted from his detentions from Dolores Umbridge. _I must not tell lies, _Harry thought and the pain from his punishments flooded back to him. Sometimes, he felt that the scars on his hands hurt more than the scar on his forehead ever did.

Ginny finished the dishes since Harry stopped working when he asked about Ginny's scars. She noticed his troubled look and went over to hug him.

"It's fine. Please, don't worry about it. They are just a bunch of meaningless words," Ginny whispered in his ear. She walked away before Harry could protest and say that words were even more powerful than magic. Harry sighed and followed her upstairs and they both undress before climbing into bed.

"Good night, Harry," Ginny whispered before kissing Harry. He put his arm around her and they laid there, Ginny resting her head on Harry's shoulder and falling asleep in a few minutes.

Harry was on the verge of falling asleep when Hermione came running into his room. Her face was red and she was sweating slightly despite the cold.

"Harry, Ginny, I figured it out. What's been bothering me. We have to tell the Order…now," she said breathlessly.

**Blah, blah, blah. More explaining...again if anything doesn't make sense or you need clarification, just ask.**

**Thanks for reading and also thanks to everybody who has stuck with the story!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimers are same as before blah blah blah...**

**Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

Chapter 12

"What?" Harry mumbled. He shifted so that he could see Hermione better and noticed Ron, confused and tired, standing in the doorway. Ginny sat up next to him.

"What is it Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"We've all made a huge mistake. We have to tell the Order or something could go horribly wrong," Hermione said.

"What Hermione? What mistake?" Harry said, starting to get irritated. Hermione quickly told them her theory and Harry, Ginny, and Ron's eyes all widened and their faces turned white.

"No. That's not possible," Ginny said.

"I know it's crazy but it makes sense if you piece everything together. Anyways, I'd rather overreact instead of not do anything about it and find everyone dead," Hermione said.

"When's the next Order meeting?" Harry asked.

"Kingsley told me the Order will be meeting tonight to talk about Mr. Weasley. I didn't want to tell you two because you had been through a lot in the past few days so I wanted you guys to rest. But now that this could hurt everyone, we should go over there as soon as we can," Hermione explained quickly. Harry looked at Ginny, but she was already getting out of bed. Hermione and Ron left the room so that Harry and Ginny could change. Then, when the four of them were ready, they walked outside and apparated to the Order's Headquarters, which was still in Number 12 Grimmauld Place as a tribute to the war against Voldemort.

By the time the four of them entered the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the Order meeting looked like it had been in session for a while. Nearly all of the Order's twenty members were present, including the seven that had saved Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny earlier.

"But will everything be in order by tomorrow?" they heard George say as they walked in. The members stopped talking and turned to the four: most of them just stared as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny took seats. Kingsley broke the silence first.

"Well, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, we have decided that Mr. Weasley's trial will be tomorrow," Kingsley said.

"What? This early?" Harry asked, surprised by how quickly it had been arranged.

"Yes, we want to take Arthur out of commission, so to speak, as soon as we can," Kingsley said. At his words, Hermione remembered what she had come here to tell the Order.

"We have something very important to tell you," Hermione said, discreetly taking her wand out of her pocket. Harry, Ron, and Ginny followed suit. "It has to do with…" At that moment, the door to the kitchen burst open and ten cloaked figures stepped in and started throwing hexes and curses. Harry grabbed Ginny and forced her under the table, both of them throwing their own hexes and curses back at the figures from under the wooden table. Ron and Hermione followed Harry's actions and Harry, Ron, and Hermione all started speaking at the same time while mentally firing spells at the attackers.

"Do you think…"

"I told you it would be tonight, now you see…"

"How could they find…"

"Will you guys just shut up and cast spells?!" Ginny whisper-yelled at the talkative trio. This shut them and they continued firing spells until the table turned over and they were exposed, along with George, Angelina, and Bill, who were also using the table as shield. They all scrambled to their feet while casting spells and they started to back away into the sitting room along with the rest of the Order. A few members lay on the floor but nobody could tell if they were alive or dead, even though it looked as if most of them were breathing. All of the members noticed that the potency of their spells had decreased, but none of them gave it much more thought in the midst of the heavy fighting.

In the sitting room, the cloaked figures, now down to five members, were able to corner the Order. One member had gotten Ron by himself and the two were dueling across the room from the rest of the witches and wizards.

Suddenly, Molly Weasley broke away from the mass of Order members and ran towards Ron and his attacker while yelling "NO! HE'S MINE!" Ron turned and, before he could defend himself, a red curse flew from Molly's wand and hit Ron in the chest. Ron crumpled to the floor and Molly turned on the rest of the Order, a steely glint in her eye. Hermione, just noticing Ron's limp figure and Molly's hardened figure, lunged at Molly and started throwing curses at her. Molly flicked her wand and Hermione fell to the floor, clutching a large gash in her side. Molly was about to finish her off before Kingsley, understanding the situation, hexed Molly so hard that she smashed a hole in the wall and landed on the overturned kitchen table, unconscious.

Now, the Order members were able to easily take out the five members and they realized that Molly had been limiting their powers. In addition to the failure of the spell, the remaining Weasley's were so furious that they began casting spells in double time. Finally, the last cloaked figure fell to the floor and the Order stood, crowded in the corner, panting, sweating, and observing the scene.

The first person to break away from the group was Percy and he jumped through the hole in the wall to Molly. He punched her unconscious figure across the face multiple times until Bill jumped in to restrain him. Tears streamed down Percy's face as he struggled to get out of Bill's grip.

Harry and Ginny, on the other hand, ran over to Ron and Hermione's bodies. Hermione was still awake, but very weak and she was losing blood quickly. They called over Luna, who had become very adept in healing, and asked her to work on healing Hermione. Luna agreed and while she mended Hermione's gash, Harry and Ginny ran to Ron.

Ron, they soon discovered, was in far worse shape than Hermione. He was also unconscious and his breathing was labored. Ginny propped Ron's head in her lap and Harry hovered over his best friend, hoping that he his breathing would start being regular again. Tears fell from both of their eyes onto Ron's limp body. They were scared to apparate him anywhere because of his delicate state and Luna was the only one skilled enough to fix him enough so that they could apparate him to St. Mungo's. The pair looked over at Luna, but she was in the middle of weaving a complex spell and couldn't be interrupted so they waited until she was done to wave her over to Ron.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Luna finished working on Hermione, who was now unconscious but alive. She rushed over to Ron and started casting spells while feeling his body for damage. After many spells and muggle CPR techniques, Luna leaned back on her heels, tears forming in her eyes. Her normally cheerful face was hardened with anger. Once she composed herself, she spoke to Harry and Ginny.

"I'm so sorry. He's stopped breathing."

**AHHHH! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! Just please wait for the rest of the story before you give up on my cruel, cruel nature. Mwah-ha-ha!**

**Thanks for reading and thanks for not killing me (yet). :)**


	13. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

**Dear people and non-people,**

**Okay so as I continue on with this story, I realize that I have left too many things open and unexplained things really, really annoy me. Therefore, I've decided that for the next day or so, I'm going to go back and just tweak the story a bit. I'll make a list of the tweaks so you don't have to read it again. I'm just writing this note now because I want to notify you guys that not everything will be the same as it was before and that I won't be adding a new chapter for a bit. I'm not going to be changing the general plot, but I'm going to add dialogue and descriptions that I was too lazy to write before. I'll also mention some things that I completely forgot about and just remembered (like Ginny's scars from her torture).**

**So, I'm sorry for the inconvenience (I sound like an airplane stewardess teehee) and I'll try to work on continuing the story as soon as I can.  
**

**Thanks so much again to everybody who's continued with the story and please just bear with me!**

**With Lotso Love,**

**Redheadedbookworm77**

**P.S. This also gives me time to think about whether I should really kill of Ron or not. :P**


	14. Chapter 13

**Okay, so I made two major changes and they are both in the past few chapters. One (in the last chapter) talks about how a trial for Mr. Weasley will be tomorrow (as in the day after the Order meeting) and another has to do with Harry seeing Ginny's scars at the end of Chapter 11. In addition to these, there were a few other tweaks that added to the fluidity and whatnot, but none of them were serious unless you're a real "plothole" (teehee I crack myself up :D).**

**Anyways, disclaimers are same as always, so you can read my other chapters and stuff to find out what I don't own.**

**Soooo...read, review and enjoy! (Even though this chapter's kinda small).**

Chapter 13

Ginny screamed and started hitting Ron in the chest, tears blurring her vision and a mixture of anger and grief clouding her mind.

"Wake up you stupid, bloody, _git!_" she yelled, pounding her fists into his chest. Harry and Luna tried to hold her back but she was too enraged and all they were able to do was infuriate her more.

"Ginny, please stop…" Harry pleaded after his attempts to hold her back failed.

"Shut up, Harry! Shut. _Up!_ Ronald Weasley, you had better wake up this instant. This isn't funny Ron. Ron…Ron! Wake up Ron!" she cried, now shaking Ron's shoulders. After a few minutes of screaming, pounding, and shaking, Ginny collapsed to the floor. Harry wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in close. Ginny wept into his shoulder.

Suddenly, they heard a slight coughing noise and the pair looked up. Luna, who had sat very still next to them with her head down, looked up and moved closer to Ron. His coughs were becoming louder and more prolonged. Harry and Ginny waited expectantly as Luna began to work spells on him, causing him not only to cough but to sit up slightly.

Then his eyes popped open.

Ginny cried out in joy and hugged Harry tightly, who was also cheering. Luna continued to work on Ron until he was able to sit up without coughing too violently. Luna turned to Ginny and grinned.

"It seems as if your anger saved him," Luna said. Ginny could only nod, laugh, and cry at the same time. She continued to clutch Harry, who was also laughing and crying. The four stayed by Ron's side until he was apparated off to St. Mungo's (along with Hermione) by Luna and her husband, Rolf Scamander. After their friends left, Ginny turned to Harry and kissed him, tears mingling with the fervor Ginny felt.

"Don't you dare leave me, Mr. Harry Potter. Don't even try to do what Ron did," Ginny said, pulling Harry into another hug.

"I'll try not to," Harry said and Ginny glared at him. "Okay fine, I promise," Harry corrected. The two continued to hug until the presence of an awkward-looking Kingsley pulled them apart.

"I was, uh, just checking in on you two," Kingsley said, a faint flush rising to his face. After the war against Voldemort, Kingsley had never bothered to marry or even date much because of his position as Minister of Magic and usually felt weird around couples.

"We're fine. What about the rest of the Order? And Mrs. Weasley and her followers?"  
Harry asked. Him and Ginny both turned to Kingsley, but Harry kept a protective arm wrapped around Ginny the whole conversation.

"Nobody from the Order died, even though there were some serious injuries, Ron being one of the most serious. However, three of the Dark Hoods, as we have called them, are dead and the rest are injured, including Molly. After we pried Percy off of her, she was sent off to Azkaban with her husband to await her trial," Kingsley said. Harry nodded to show he understood but did nothing more.

"Will the trial still be tomorrow?" Ginny asked.

"Well, the one against Arthur will be but we may have to find more evidence against Molly before we can convict her of anything. Unlike Arthur, she didn't have anybody bound before she was caught," Kingsley said, smiling slightly, "And also, I have to know, mostly for later reference: did you four know about Molly before coming here tonight?"

"Yeah, Hermione figured it out. That's what she was going to tell you before the…_Dark Hoods_ arrived. Then, we were too busy dueling to say anything about it," Harry explained. He found the name "Dark Hoods" to be strangely comedic and uncreative. Every time he heard the name, he found himself sniggering in his head despite the horrors the group had brought.

"Okay, that's all I needed to know. Thank-you Harry, for all your help. And thank you too, Ginny, for saving your brother. I have to go and attend to other matters now, so if you'll excuse me," Kingsley said, turning away and leaving the pair standing there.

Harry and Ginny decided to go and visit the members of the Weasley family before leaving, but they found that all of them had either returned home to mourn the loss of their parents or had gone to the hospital to check up on Ron and Hermione. After some discussion, Harry and Ginny reluctantly decided to go back to their home and rest since tomorrow would be a big day and the surgeries would most likely take the remainder of the night to complete.

At the house, Harry and Ginny dressed for bed and lay down in bed. Harry pulled Ginny in close for what seemed like the millionth time that day and they both stared up at the ceiling, Harry rubbing the scars on Ginny's arm.

"Harry, what would happen if I died? How would you cope?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know, I don't think I ever would," Harry said and continued staring at the ceiling until Ginny fell asleep beside him, not saying another word. He kissed her on the forehead before shutting his eyes and falling into a troubled sleep.

**I just couldn't kill off Ron...I'm so weak (D':). I'd think about doing it to throw in a surprise but then I'd realize that losing Fred was enough Weasley loss for me so I decided to let Ron live...for now ;).**

**Anyways, thank-you for reading and I thank each and every one of you who supports this story and I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can! Toodles!**


	15. Chapter 14

**AHHHHH! I'm so sorry for not updating this story sooner. I could give you a thousand reasons why I didn't but I'll just leave it simple and say I was busy. Anyways, I'm going to start updating this story only once a week (Friday or Saturday) because school's starting and I'm going to be really busy!**

**So this chapter's kinda going to be a disappointment since it's a bunch of filler, but I saw it necessary for character stuff and what they're thinking.**

**Soooo read, review, and enjoy!**

Chapter 14

Later that night, Harry woke up, shaking and covered in sweat. It had been a while since he had a nightmare so vivid and at first, he thought it was real. He looked over to see Ginny sleeping peacefully, not disturbed by his sudden movements. He looked over to his twenty-year-old muggle alarm clock: it had run out of battery about a decade ago but Harry kept it running with magic. It was 3:00 in the morning. Harry groaned and leaned back on his pillow, his nightmare running through his head.

In the nightmare, Harry was sitting in a courtroom: Ginny, Ron, and Hermione seated next to him. A group of dementors brought Mr. Weasley in and he was seated on a large black chair in the center of the room. Harry reflected that it was almost like a modern-day setting of the trial he saw in Dumbledore's pensieve. _Maybe that's why it looked so real, _Harry thought. However, as soon as Mr. Weasley opened his mouth to talk, a black cloud came from out of his mouth and swarmed everybody in the room, besides Harry. He could hear the screams of Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and the Order members that came to watch but he couldn't save them because he was rooted to the spot. He then heard them all suffocating under the cloud. Then, Mr. Weasley, his face transformed to look like Voldemort's, rose up to Harry's height and leaned in to give him a kiss. It was only then did Harry realize that Voldemort was now a dementor and he was leaning in to give him a Dementor's Kiss. Harry couldn't struggle and right when the Dementor pulled back his hood and touched Harry's lips did Harry wake up, sweating and shaking. Harry saw the dream as an omen but he pushed it to the back of his mind.

Ginny stirred beside Harry and pulled him from his thoughts. She sat up and wiped her eyes before trying looking down at Harry. Harry pretended to be asleep but Ginny turned her sleepy head towards his face and kissed him on the cheek before speaking.

"I don't know who you are trying to fool, Mr. Harry Potter, because you are horrible at pretending to sleep," Ginny said.

"How did you know I was awake?" Harry asked. Now he wondered how often Ginny had known he was awake while he feigned sleep.

"Oh, I have my ways," Ginny said and smiled in the dark. Even though Harry couldn't see her well, he recognized her tone of voice and smiled back.

"We still have a while until the trial so we should get back to sleep," Harry said.

"Not until you tell me why you're sweating. I'm not stupid, I know you had a nightmare," Ginny said and crossed her arms in her sitting position.

Harry was reluctant to answer. He didn't want to hear Ginny's response. "It was nothing, really. Just some thoughts about the trial," Harry said, trying to reassure Ginny. She didn't buy it.

"It was not nothing…tell me what was wrong!" Ginny yelled. She hated when her husband tried to be heroic and save those close to him from danger and hurt.

Harry sighed, knowing that it was useless to argue, and explained the dream. When he finished, Ginny took a while to respond.

"I-I think that it might not be a good idea to go to the trial," Ginny whispered.

"But, we have to go and see him convicted. It just feels right if we did," Harry protested.

"It's just that this is the first nightmare you've had in a very long time Harry. Ever since Voldemort came died and most of those dreams were true or at least somewhat true. If it is true this time, I don't think we should be a part of it and we should warn everybody involved," Ginny explained, still talking in a hushed voice.

"Yeah but those nightmares came from my connection to Voldemort. Voldemort's dead so there's no way to know if it's really going to happen," Harry argued.

"Harry, you, and Dumbledore and everybody else involved with this whole thing underestimated Voldemort's mind powers. He could filter the events of your life into J.K. Rowling's mind. He played you, not the other way around. It's absurd, but maybe his mental connection lives on even in his death and he knows something important about tomorrow. And it slipped tonight," Ginny said.

"Still, Voldemort's dead. How could he hold a mental connection in death? I'm going to the trial…I need to see Mr. Weasley convicted, and you should too! He's your father and he was someone that you trusted. And go for Mrs. Weasley's betrayal too. She attacked Ron and Hermione!"

"Harry, I know you want to go and see your revenge play out but I think that dream is an omen. I have a strange feeling about this whole ordeal…that we may be missing something and if you have a bad dream about something, maybe you should avoid it!" Ginny's voice rose again.

"I'M GOING AND THAT'S THE END OF IT!" Harry yelled. Ginny backed away, shocked. Her husband usually never raised his voice at her.

"Fine," Ginny said before flopping down on her bed and rolling over. Harry did the same and after he turned around, a few tears fell onto his pillow. He knew the nightmare was an omen but he wanted to see revenge. Killing Voldemort was revenge for his parents, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's betrayal had been so much more hurtful because he trusted them. They were his second parents. He didn't want to turn his back on this trial and make it seem like they had bested him: that by not showing up, they had gained the upper hand. Harry needed to go for his own pride as much as for his thirst for revenge, but he couldn't explain this to Ginny or she'd show the flaws in his logic, as she's always done. Harry sighed and tried to fall asleep.

The next morning, Harry lay in bed until Ginny (who had really pretended to sleep) rose and went downstairs to make breakfast. Harry followed her after he could hear the pans clanking together. On the way down, he looked at his reflection in a mirror and saw how both the bags under his eyes and his wrinkles became more defined overnight.

He trudged into the kitchen where Ginny, with her back turned to him, was finishing some eggs. When she heard him enter, she didn't turn around or speak.

"Good morning," Harry said, trying to relieve the tension in the air. Ginny didn't respond, but she took the eggs from the pan and put them on two plates. When she walked over, she didn't look at Harry and he saw the look of anger on her face. They sat down at the table and ate in silence until Ginny finally spoke up.

'Harry, I don't know why you want to go to this trial. It may as well kill you and your life is not worth the life of a betrayer," Ginny started, her voice as even as she could manage.

"I'm going," Harry said firmly.

Ginny sighed and looked down at her half eaten eggs. She seemed to be working out something in her head.

"Harry, please. I don't want you to die. That nightmare means something and I know you know it too," Ginny pleaded. Her voice started to show a hint of desperation.

"I'm going," Harry said.

Ginny realized she wasn't going to change her husband's mind and it scared her that she couldn't understand his thoughts. She wanted Harry to see the reasoning. _If only Hermione were here,_ she thought. She would've brought him to her except for the fact that they hadn't gotten a letter saying Hermione and Ron were okay. She leaned back in her chair, thinking carefully before responding.

"Harry, I know you want to go. I don't know why you want to go but since it means so much to you, I'll go too. Just promise me we'll warn Kingsley that something might go wrong. Please," Ginny said.

Harry looked at his wife and saw the pain in her eyes. He wanted to ease it but he knew that he had to go to the trial. It would be the only way he could triumph over the reign of Voldemort permanently. _It was my job to kill Voldemort,_ Harry thought. _And now he's back again and I need to kill him again. _ Harry stared at his wife until he felt absolutely sure of his decision, regardless of Ginny's feelings towards it.

"Okay," Harry said. He didn't know what else to do now that he got Ginny to agree with him.

After the two finished their breakfast, they washed the dishes and got ready for the trial. At 10, they received an owl saying that the trial would be at 2 p.m. and to arrive there an hour beforehand. Neither Ginny nor Harry talked as they prepared themselves and their lunch. Both were thinking about the nightmare and the trial. At a quarter to one, the pair walked out in the frigid air in silence. They apparated away to the Ministry of Magic.

The trial was almost upon them.

**Duh duh duh!**

**Yeah I know, not my best ending, but the trial will be next chapter.**

**So, on a different note, what I'm planning to do is to divide this story up into two stories: one focusing on the Mr. and Mrs. Weasley side of things (i.e. this story) and one on the impact of the stories on muggles (i.e. the sequel). I just want a completed story and honestly, I feel like it'll be too much to read through if I made it one gigantic story.**

**Thanks for reading and thanks for all those readers who have stuck with the fillers and the plot twists! :D Also, a huge thanks to everybody who's reviewed: they all make me so happy :D.**


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